Extending the best of Wheel Horse

[Al C. 1,428]

I’ve been thinking of ways the Wheel Horse Forum can do more with our love for these tractors and passion for maintaining them, than simply talking about them, taking pictures, telling stories, and accumulating them in our garages.  I want to run this idea by folks and get some reactions.  

 

There are a lot of middle schools in this country that have entry level machine shops.  These programs are designed to introduce young kids to the fundamentals of tools, machine design, repair, problem solving, and construction.   What about the Wheel Horse Forum donating an old worn Wheel Horse to a school in need of a project?  We would provide the tractors, funding, parts, and advice as needed for the class to restore the tractor.  Then the school could continue to use the tractor as an example of machine/engine engineering, taking it apart, rebuilding it, demonstrating the skills and fundamental mechanics that go into the design, construction, and maintenance of machinery and engines. 

 

For us, this would promote a passion we all have, it would help seed this passion and associated values in some young people, and it would extend the life of a brand we are all crazy about.  

 

Just an idea.  Thoughts?

[WHNJ701 4,165]

I gave/donated a real nice older briggs engine to a teacher, part of her curriculum was how a basic engine worked.

[Lane Ranger 10,945]

Scott Melburg has been doing this for several years in the school he teaches at in Indiana. 

 

 Several Wheel Horse tractor owners have donated tractors to his student run club that has restored tractors donated to them.

 

Tractors owners need to connect with their local school corporations to determine interest in accepting or receiving a donated tractor for use as educational tools.

 

 

 

[953 nut 55,065]

Here is a thread on the club Lane was telling about.       

 

[stevasaurus 22,706]

This might be better suited for the WHCC (Wheel Horse Collector's Club) then a tractor forum on the net. 

[rjg854 11,349]

I lent one of my 8hp Kohler engines out to a local school here that wanted an engine to tear down and rebuild for one of their shop classes. It smoked a little bit, and all I had to do was buy what ever parts it needed. 

[Sarge 3,463]

Around here, and many areas of the country have zero in-school shop programs of any sort. None in the high schools, let along Junior High - it's all gone to Vocational courses offered by local colleges and of course costs a lot to send a kid there. I hate it, none of the kids are taught to think and work with their hands - us older folks have a limited time left and cannot keep doing all the mechanical work and the Trades are suffering the results. Kids don't grow up like they did years ago and getting young blood into any Trade is tough, it takes ten times longer to teach them from scratch in the Apprenticeships than it used to and once they are out on jobs it shows with injuries and poor work skills. Not to mention work ethics, only about 20% are worth their salt and can stand the test of time. I hope things change, seeing a lot more schools go back to having in-house shop classes is a step in the right direction.

Not everyone can afford college and sit at a desk or work in a lab. Someone has to repair things and build our infrastructure - the disposable society is a deadly waste of resources and needs to change, quickly. The young folks I work with can't believe that a guy can repair any engine, build a road, weld/fabricate, carpentry, plumbing and even sew and repair his clothes - it all started in Junior High at shop classes. I see a desire in kids to learn this stuff and try to push them in that direction if possible - if the desire is there they just need a place to learn, why not our Public School system?

Just never understood why the school shops went away in the first place.

 

Sarge

[WHNJ701 4,165]

4 hours ago, Sarge said:

 

Just never understood why the school shops went away in the first place.

 

Sarge

it's a huge insurance liability that's what killed the programs

[Pullstart 62,785]

I am thankful to have gone to a school that had wood shop for freshman and sophomore classes, then in junior and senior years they shipped us half a day to another school in the district that had specialty classes.  I took automotive, but there were nursing, dental, electrical, building trades, machine tool, diesel, and I’m sure others too.  All the schools in the district bussed the kids there for morning and afternoon classes.  My senior year, I had co-op (tool and die) in the morning, lunch and one class at school, then drove to auto shop for half of the afternoon class... then most often times stayed until 6 or 7 at night in the shop with my teacher.  His wife was in another state for college and neither of us had much reason to leave.  I learned a ton in class, and taught my teacher torch and welding tips too.  He raced 4 cylinder figure 8 derby style, so we built a heavy and tough Cavalier, all after hours at school.  It was nice as a young kid to have any tool I could imagine.  In two years I also rebuilt a 1990 VW Jetta  engine, transmission, suspension and interior for the cost of parts.

 

As far as I know, the Institute is still running and I’m glad for that.  I hear from all my family that the shops are behind on jobs, can’t get new workers to stay until lunch time, no call no show, it’s terrible. 

[LengerichKA88 1,883]

I went to IPS (Indianapolis Public Schools), and we had zero “non academic” classes in high school. I did take Home Ec in 8th grade, but that was only because it was better than whatever the other option was (I know it wasn’t a shop class). After my 8th grade year (2001) I believe they did away with it. 

As Jabelman said, it’s a liabaility, but not necessarily just from accidents. The way some of these kids are these days, especially in inner city areas, putting something simple like a breaker bar in their hands is a death sentence to another kid. 

I know this sounds bad, and may ruffle some feathers, but I would consider it a waste of a tractor, parts, time, and resources for it to go to a public school. If there were another organization that would follow the plan intended above, something like Scouts, or 4H that would be where I (personally) would rather everything go. Just because you give the school the opportunity to have a shop class doesn’t mean that there will be interest in it. It also doesn’t guarantee that the work will be done. If there’s no intrest but the schools admin wants to go forward with it, they’ll make schedule kids into it. If they don’t want to be there they won’t do quality (if any) real work to it. You also have to think about kids attitudes towards stuff that’s not there’s: they don’t care about it. The kids that would be interested in doing the work that belong to Scouts for instance, the fact that they’re in Scouts alone means that they *Should* have more respect for things that aren’t theirs, a desire to learn hands on subjects, etc. I know I was a little long winded, but I’d find a club or organization to partner with for a project like this. 

[WHX?? 48,767]

On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 9:38 AM, Sarge said:

have zero in-school shop programs of any sort.

Same here save for just the most basics of wood working. The shop teacher's kids was into racing kiddie snowmobiles so it didn't take must pushing for him to accept a few old motors to tear down and the kids learn a few things bout.

 

On ‎12‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 9:38 AM, Sarge said:

never understood why the school shops went away in the first place.

Lack of funding and lack of student interest be my guess.

I would be lost if it were not for the power mechanics I had in high school. We were blessed to have a full machine shop and foundry. When they built a new bazillion dollar school all that kinda went away.  I wasn't into sports or academics so the shop classes were my ticket to success.  

[Sarge 3,463]

I still see a fair amount of "sparked interest" in the younger generations to learn about and work with mechanical things. Not just repair, but even fabrication and machining. Same with wood, albeit less interest. The problem with not having this stuff available in the Public school system is it leaves the only real options to learn either on a real job or some sort of college, local community types or otherwise - which isn't any sort of a cheap option. My argument is this - if it isn't there, how can there be an interest? Our society has gotten, frankly - lazy. Folks work a lot of hours, hard - so it is easier to throw something away versus taking the time to fix it, or at least learn how to do such things. It seems as though the only ones that are willing to learn, young or old - are those that appreciate old equipment and it's durability. It has become a contest of owning the latest, greatest "keeping up with the Jones' " sort of mentality - the hours they have to work to pay for that has gotten out of hand. Social media is now a huge factor - people sit in large groups and never speak, just play with their phones. They actually set aside a large portion of off-hours from the job to spend time on FB, ect - wtf??? Between reality TV, social media and other factors - kids hardly ever play outside nowadays. Kids are being given active cell phones at a very young age - that truly disturbs me in our world of predators and social media pressure, it is a recipe for disaster. 

 

When I sold my Land Cruiser to a younger fella I was honestly disappointed in myself. But, so far, he's proven a true interest and desire to work on it himself with little mechanical knowledge. He's been a lurker on a forum for quite a while, learning as much as he can about them before asking questions, which is how it should work - you earn a place, so to speak. I see now he's asked a few things and seems to be taking it to heart - so there is hope for my old best friend. He is coming to me off and on for advice about tools and generally learning about the truck's history - which is fine with me. There are some signs of a change coming, even current teenagers are starting to understand that cheap imported goods cost more in the long run - look around, there is a younger crowd getting interested in this stuff. Its just a shame our Public school system doesn't support more of that. When working around our younger generations - I teach, not lecture. I don't fix something for them, I show them how to do it hands-on for themselves, that goes a long way.

 

Ok, rant off..

 

Sarge

[Al C. 1,428]

Agree.  Part of the problem is the prescribed testing regime in our public schools. There is no room or credit for kids to get involved in “shop”.  I have two grand children, six and three years old.  They each believe they own my two Wheel Horses.  I get them involved in every aspect of maintaining them when they are around.  Driving the tractors is there #1 activity when we are outside.  They love them.  I see a light at the end of this tunnel if old foggies like us take the time to teach them the value of these skills and the durability of this old equipment.  They actually enjoy watching Grandpa take things apart and fixing them.  I guess it is our responsibility to get this social media, reality TV, iPhone oriented generation outdoors, working with there hands and appreciating the value of good quality products and engineering.  If we start when they are young, they seem to appreciate it.  

[dells68 7,498]

Amen brothers preach it!  Being a teacher, it bothers me to see the all academic, college credit push.  Don’t get me wrong, many kids are destined to go to college and corporate America, but it’s technical skills and trades that built and support this country.  I have two good friends just a couple of years younger that are making much more than I am working as brick masons for themselves.  And they are really good at what they do!  I honestly wish I would have gotten my welding certification or went into heavy equipment operation, but those weren’t options for me at the time.  I’ll take early retirement from the state in about 9 or 10 years and who knows which way I’ll go then.  I’ll never regret being a teacher though because I’ve gotten to make lasting bonds and friendships with so many young people.  It’s amazing how many still remember me and come up when we’re out in town!

[Sarge 3,463]

4 hours ago, Al C. said:

Agree.  Part of the problem is the prescribed testing regime in our public schools. There is no room or credit for kids to get involved in “shop”.  I have two grand children, six and three years old.  They each believe they own my two Wheel Horses.  I get them involved in every aspect of maintaining them when they are around.  Driving the tractors is there #1 activity when we are outside.  They love them.  I see a light at the end of this tunnel if old foggies like us take the time to teach them the value of these skills and the durability of this old equipment.  They actually enjoy watching Grandpa take things apart and fixing them.  I guess it is our responsibility to get this social media, reality TV, iPhone oriented generation outdoors, working with there hands and appreciating the value of good quality products and engineering.  If we start when they are young, they seem to appreciate it.  

 

You truly hit the nail on the head - and that's my own motto for Life. If we don't teach the younger generations how to care for this Nation, no one else will do it for us and instead keep steering them in the current direction of misguided values. I don't like to lecture, complain or make a fuss - but many of us older folks are to blame for not pushing our kids enough to push their children as well to be self-sufficient. My kid is sort of an oddball - skinny girl that can hang with the best of them, change the oil in her own vehicle, do light diagnostics, take household appliances apart and repair them, and even weld a little. All four of my grandkids are headed in the same direction - I don't want to see any more of these kids that can't even figure out how to put gas in their own vehicles, give me a break, lol. The single direction drive of society to send these kids into Corporate jobs is destroying us - not everyone can afford to do that nor are all the kids capable of heading that direction. After all, who is going to build our infrastructure, repair our vehicles or manufacture any quality goods? I do see some light with many companies that focus solely on the US Made 100% business models - and they are highly competitive. I'm sick of every search engine defaulting to imported Chinese junk, including all the assorted shopping sites and especially eBay. Honestly, the stuff sitting along the curb now that could be repaired instead of replaced doesn't help anyone - just promotes more laziness and a very wasteful society.

 

I was never so disgusted in all my life when I heard they were going to sell off my old High School shop equipment - that was all industrial level machinery that is probably still running today, except some of the stuff that ended up being scrapped. I should have gone to the auction, but just couldn't stand to be there. To see all that go away broke my heart - we had the capability to teach kids everything needed to survive, literally. My generation was close to being the last - today's society shows us the results.

 

Sarge

 

 

[Al C. 1,428]

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Edited December 17, 2018 by Al C.